My November trip to Piedmont was one of the
most eventful in recent memory. It seemed like every day brought with it an
important piece of news, ranging from the possible sale of one of the region’s historic
estates, to reports of a second winery caught in a bitter power struggle among
families, to the locals’ displeasure over the construction of an imposing new
luxury hotel many view as an eyesore among these generally bucolic landscapes.
Several landmark restaurants will be closing, changing ownership and/or
relocating at the end of the year. The recently updated delimitations of
Barbaresco (and soon Barolo) vineyards and sub-zones was also a frequent topic
of impassioned discussion. In short, it seems like Piedmont is undergoing a
number of significant changes which come as a shock to anyone used to the
familiarity and history of the region.

One thing that hasn’t changed is my
enthusiasm over the 2004 Barolos. I began tasting the wines just after the
harvest and have followed them regularly since then. Tasting these wines every
six months or so has been an education, and it has been thrilling to watch
their evolution. Quite frankly, I have never tasted young Barolos with this
level of sweet, perfumed fruit and silky, ripe tannins. These are wines of
extraordinary elegance, balance and finesse that may come as a
pleasant surprise to readers used to the tannic behemoths of the past. Quality
is outstanding from top to bottom. Readers will find everything from a number
of superb entry-level wines to utterly profound luxury bottlings and everything
in between. The vintage coincides with a growing sense of maturity among
growers, especially those of the younger generation. A number of producers have
made their finest wines yet.

As I have written in these pages before, the
2004 Barolos combines the sweetness of 2000 with the classicism, perfume and
freshness of 2001. It is tempting to compare 2004 to 2001, two vintages which
share many attributes. At a number of properties I had a chance to taste the
vintages side by side. Today the 2001 Barolos appear to be more powerful,
structured wines and they may eventually prove to be longer-lived. The 2004s,
on the other hand, come across as more elegant and refined. A precise
comparison is difficult because so many 2001s have begun to shut down while the
2004s are remarkably open at this stage although they too are likely to enter a
closed phase at some point in the future. Drinking windows should be viewed as
a general approximation, and will almost certainly need to be revised and
updated in the following months and years. While both vintages are similar in
terms of quality, I give a slight edge to 2004 for the remarkable finesse of
the wines and the higher average level producers achieved.

The vintage itself was relatively uneventful
in terms of weather, which came as a huge relief to growers with fresh memories
of the difficult 2002 and 2003 growing seasons. The summer was warm but not
overly so. The last month of the season, always the most critical period, saw
cool evenings bring relief to the daytime heat, precisely the conditions
Nebbiolo needs to develop vibrant color, expressive aromatics, layered fruit
and fine tannins. It is a vintage in which specific vineyard characteristics
are accentuated to the fullest. The calm weather during the harvest afforded
growers the luxury of picking fruit at the optimal level of ripeness rather
than being rushed by nature as was the case in both 2003 and 2005. Most
producers harvested in mid to late October, but a few growers reported picking
into November, something that is pretty much unheard of these days. The
near-perfect weather also caused the plants to unleash the energy they had held
in store after having shut down during the torrid 2003 growing season. As a result, yields were abundant.
Quality-minded growers were forced to green-harvest aggressively. Quite a few
producers reported that their yields were still on the high side, even after
dropping a substantial amount of fruit. That said, so far I have not tasted too
many wines that come across as diluted or lacking concentration, qualities I
did see in a few 2004 Barbarescos.

The only problem with the wines is likely to
be pricing. Most estates are raising prices 15-20% That, along with the
continued depreciation of the US dollar means American consumers can expect
prices to be up about 30% from the 2001s, the last vintage of similar quality.
As hard as these price increases will be to accept, the truth is that they pale
in comparison with the price hikes consumers have been asked to digest for top
Burgundies, Bordeaux and other world-class wines in recent highly sought-after
vintages such as 2005. In addition, the top wines are rarely subject to a
similar level of speculation. Buying early is the key, but availability is
rarely an issue. Barolo is not inexpensive these days, but the wines remain
outstanding relative values among the world’s finest age-worthy and collectible
wines.

My November trip also reinforced the
impressions of vintages 2005, 2006 and 2007 I shared in Issue 173. 2005 is
shaping up to be a vintage of fresh, perfumed, medium- bodied Barolos and
Barbarescos, while the 2006s are richer, weightier wines. I also had a chance
to taste a number of 2007 Barolos and the vintage appears promising. It is of
course too soon to reach any definitive evaluations and results vary from
producer to producer, but 2007 has the potential to be a vintage in the mold of
2004 and 2001. This article focuses on 2004 Barolos that are in bottle.
Additional 2004 Barolos, particularly those that are bottled later than normal,
and the 2005 Barbarescos will be covered in a future piece, while new Dolcetto
and Barbera releases will be reviewed on this site as they were last year.